A late rally by Slovakia falls just short as the Czech Republic holds on to win 5-3 and advance to the quarterfinals.

A unique sequence of events led to an Edmonton Oilers player scoring a power play goal on a penalty committed by an Oilers player. Martin Marincin went to the box for slashing at 6:38 of the first period. Then, it was Ales Hemsky who capitalized for the Czech Republic on the man advantage, at 6:53.

Hemsky buried a shot from the point, top shelf for his first goal of the tournament. Tomas Kaberle and Jakub Vorachek recorded the assists.

It didn’t take long for the Czechs to build on their lead. Jaromir Jagr found Tomas Plekanec at centre ice and sprung him loose on a rush. Plekanec’s shot ringed off the post and out and then Roman Cervenka buried the goal at 7:22 of the opening period.

David Krejci scored his first of the tournament on the power play at 17:03 of the first. Tomas Kaberle passed the puck to Krejci from the point and the Czech fired a perfect shot top shelf of Jan Laco, off the crossbar and in to increase the lead to 3-0.

Cervenka scored his second goal of the game at 15:41 of the second period with a beautiful breakaway goal, making it 4-0 Czech Republic.

Marian Hossa got Slovakia on the board at 18:57 of the middle frame when he scored from the slot, over the shoulder of Ondrej Pavelec. Andrej Sekera and Michal Handzus had the helpers.

Hossa would make it a two-goal game at 7:20 of the third period. Hossa pounced on a rebound from Pavelec and found twice to make it 4-2. Tomas Tatar and Handzus recorded the assists.

The Slovakian rally continued when Tomas Surovy connected on a one-timer, set up by Sekera at 8:51 of the final frame. All of the sudden, it was a one-goal game.

The spirited rally would fall just short. Despite late scoring chances, Plekanec scored an empty net goal for the Czechs for insurance.

Hemsky finished the game having played close to 14 minutes (13:45) with four shots on goal and his one score. Marincin played just over 21 minutes (21:01) and finished the game +1.

The Czechs will play the United States in the quarterfinals.

RUSSIA 4 vs. NORWAY 0

Despite a slow start, Alexander Radulov scored twice and propelled Russia on to beat Norway, 4-0 in the qualification round.

Russia had a challenge on their hands in this one as they were scoreless after one period. This came just one game after they failed to score through three periods of regulation and five minutes of overtime against Slovakia.

Radulov gave the host country somewhat of a sigh of relief as he scored his first goal of the game at 4:12 of the second period.

Ilya Kovulchuk tapped in a loose puck that slipped behind Norwegian goalie Lars Haugen at 17:11 of the middle frame to increase Russia’s lead to two.

It was all Russia from then on as well.

Radulov scored an empty net goal at 18:53 of the third and Alexei Tereshenko provided insurance at 19:20 to make it 4-0.

Edmonton Oilers and Russian defenceman Anton Belov played close to 15 minutes (14:48) and finished the game even, with no shots on goal.